Gary James' Interview With Jeff Losawyer Of
Voodoo Moonshine
They were formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 2003 by guitarist Jeff Losawyer. Their debut album, "Decade Of Decay", released in March 2005, was an instant hit in Europe. They toured England, Ireland and Scotland. They were voted the number one band seven times in England and six times in Japan. They became one of the top three requested bands in Ireland. Rock radio in Portugal, Greece and Canada, not to mention the U.S. took an immediate liking to the group.
The group we are talking about is Voodoo Moonshine, and their latest album is titled "Bottom Of The Barrel". Jeff Losawyer spoke with us about his group.
Q - Jeff, Voodoo Moonshine has to be one of the strangest band names I've heard of in a long time. How'd you come up with that name?
A - You know, I don't know. It was just the type of music I was writing at the time. I started to put the band together and I had a lot of Led Zeppelin, acoustic, eerie type music at the time. I kind of put the two words together and everyone liked it.
Q - It is different. You must have been in bands before Voodoo Moonshine, correct?
A - Yeah, I had a couple.
Q - And that had a record deal?
A - No. This has been the most successful band that I've had, pretty much since I formed it. I've stayed loyal to it. I haven't played with anybody else.
Q - You formed the group back in 2003. Your debut album was released in 2005. How did you guys support yourselves during the recording of the album? Did you get some money up front to carry you through?
A - No. We self-funded it. To me, I try to keep the mindset, if I pay for it, if we pay for it, we don't owe anybody in the end. When the day comes that it comes to an end, there's not going to be a big bill to pay. We've done pretty well just keeping that mentality. Instead of running a bus that's $2,500 a week, I ended up biting the bullet and buying a bus. Just things like that, and trying not to get overextended and pay for things on our own.
Q - If you were able to rent a tour bus for $2,500 a week, that would be a bargain. Some of these buses rent for $2,500 a day.
A - Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous now. I can't imagine going on the road just to feed a bus and none of us hard working musicians make any money out of it. So, we try to budget things and do things the smart way.
Q - That's the best way to do it.
A - That's right. At this point I don't owe anybody. Profit margins increase when you don't owe anybody.
Q - You guys gained quite a following in the mid-2000s. And then you disbanded? How long after the mid-2000s did the band call it a day?
A - We didn't disband. I took a break and the guys moved on. I had family members that had gotten ill and passed away. So, I went back to Oklahoma and took a break for a couple of years and took care of family. Things like that. My mentality is not the same as everyone else's. If I don't play, it doesn't kill me. If I had to play in twenty bands and if I'm not doing Voodoo Moonshine, it's okay as far as I don't have to play something. This is my baby, so I don't expect the other guys to do that. My original bass player ended up playing with Skynyrd for a little while. Our drummer ended up playing with Every Mother's Nightmare, and Jack Russell's Great White. He did quite a few albums. So, we really didn't disband. I just happened to start writing a solo album and recording it after I lost my grandmother and a few other family members. That got me back in the habit of writing again. So, I called my old drummer and said I'm coming back to Memphis in 2011 and basically just started it up again. It wasn't ever, "We're gonna break up now." It wasn't like that. We did it as long as we wanted to at the time and then took a break. It ended up being a long break. Now, I got all new guys.
Q - Who's that woman on the cover of your single "Give It To Me"?
A - That's Morgan Tores. She's a friend of ours and a model from the Nashville area. She's on the CD cover. She's in about three or four pictures on the album. She's done some of our merch (merchandise) stuff too. We approached her, and another model friend of hers came down. We made a day of it. She did the CD layout and we had some merchandise shots done. She's still pretty busy I believe.
Q - And now with this new CD/LP of yours, you're hoping to do what with it? Do you want to do a headline tour or a support tour?
A - The CD has done better than what we expected. We're #36 on Billboard charts with the new single. The last single was on Billboard as well. We've had two or three on Billboard. We just got done playing two shows in Florida. We're hoping that our booking agents will get us some good support acts, shows. We're not really looking to headline. We still have a long road to go. We kind of want to be picky and choosy about shows. We don't want to play every little bar that's not going to be beneficial to the band overall. We're just taking our time. It's a lot different now that we're older as opposed to when you're 18 you want to jump at everything you can. With this album we're doing and the video releases and single releases, we're being more strategic in business with what we're doing. Whatever happens, happens. (laughs) We're not forcing anything anymore when we were younger and things seem to be working out better that way.
Official Website: www.voodoomoonshinerocks.com
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